Best Pink Floyd Albums

by pink.com

​Pink Floyd was the name of an English rock band founded in 1965 that achieved worldwide success with their unique blend of progressive psychedelic rock music. To date, the band has sold over 200 million albums worldwide and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Pink Floyd originally consisted of members Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett. Band leader Barrett saw the group through the release of two hit singles and one album in 1967 before he left the group due to his well publicized mental health issues stemming from his experimentation with LSD. After Barrett's departure, guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined the band in late 1967. Pink Floyd bassist and vocalist Roger Waters, along with Gilmour, became the principal songwriters and eventually achieved worldwide success. Pink Floyd’s albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall contain some of the best-selling and most recognized rock music tunes in the world today.

Wright left the group in 1979, and Waters left in 1985. Disputes within the band were ongoing until 2005 when the surviving members of the band reunited for a single performance at a charity concert. In May of 2011 Gilmour and Mason joined Waters onstage at the O2 Arena in London for one last reunion of all living Pink Floyd members.

In September of 2011, Pink Floyd and its record label EMI re-released newly remastered versions the band's entire back catalog. The music of Pink Floyd is certainly memorable and iconic for representing the times it was produced, but looking back now it can be hard to pick a favorite and when you ask fans which album is the best, you’re likely to hear many different answers.

Perhaps the easiest way to pick a favorite is to examine a list of all the Pink Floyd albums:

Date of Release and Album Title:

August 1967 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

June 1968 - A Saucerful of Secrets

July 1969 - Soundtrack from the film “More”

November 1969 - Ummagumma

October 1970 - Atom Heart Mother

November 1971 - Meddle

June 1972 - Obscured by Clouds

March 1973 - The Dark Side of the Moon

September 1975 - Wish You Were Here

January 1977 - Animals

November 1979 - The Wall

March 1983 - The Final Cut

September 1987 - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

March 1994 - The Division Bell

When we performed our own informal survey of the best Pink Floyd albums, many people seemed to pick the same five albums, but in different orders. However, the album most often cited the “best of the best” was the Dark Side of the Moon. Here’s our pick of the best five Pink Floyd albums of all time:

1. Dark Side of the Moon2. The Wall3. Wish You Were Here4. The Division Bell5. Atom Heart Mother